Tim Worstall

Leader in the Telegraph.

Yesterday, two things happened that may just start to turn that tide. Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, announced that the Government was ignoring the advice of its own Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and will reclassify cannabis as a Class B drug - four years after it was downgraded to […]

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Gordon Brown today gave his backing for cannabis to be reclassified as a more serious drug later this month in a move that will reverse its downgrading by his predecessor.

Sigh.
It’s all been based on a quite startling campaign of misinformation.

After becoming Prime Minister last June, Mr Brown ordered a formal review into the classification of […]

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….makes USA Today.

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We’re going to end up like the Americans on this alcohol subject, you know? And that sort of hysteria isn’t a good thing.

Pregnant women are warned they should drink no alcohol at all despite no evidence the occasional glass is harmful.

And despite the odd glass being relaxing, something beneficial.
The hysteria in the US can […]

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Actually reading the thing, whoo, boy, are these people confused!
More later.

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Thousands of lives a year could be saved by a small rise in alcohol prices, doctors’ leaders said yesterday as they put more pressure on Gordon Brown to tackle Britain’s binge-drinking "epidemic".
More than a quarter of all drink-related deaths could be prevented by a 10 per cent rise in taxes on beer, wine and spirits, […]

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Looks like it’s not as bad as we are told:

The report uses data from the UK National Child Development Study, which provides details of mothers and their children between 1973 and 2000 — a total of 3,368 women and 6,860 children.
The information includes the mothers’ smoking habits, information about their families, and the birthweight and […]

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You really do have to hand it to our MPs and Lords: knowing arses from elbows is clearly an advanced manouvre for them.

All artificial colourings in food and soft drinks should be banned, a parliamentary committee urged yesterday in a report on the effect of diet on the brain.
The associate parliamentary food and health forum […]

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Patio heaters could be banned by the European Union over fears that they are contributing to global warming.
Euro-MPs will today vote on energy efficiency proposals to phase out the sale of the popular gas-burning appliances which are increasingly found outside bars, cafés and restaurants since the indoor smoking ban.
Fiona Hall, a Liberal Democrat MEP, has […]

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Community life is now anti-social.

Villagers have been barred from putting up posters inviting people to charity events because it is "anti-social".
Volunteers in the hamlet of Misterton, Somerset, regularly use the village hall for coffee mornings and jumble sales to raise money for good causes.
Because of the building’s isolated location they often put notices up around […]

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Indeed, another quirk in the law, allowing smokers into establishments with separate rooms,

Eh? Smoking and non-smoking sections are "a quirk"?

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I think I know howthis will play out:

She faces 13 charges which are set out in a document that runs to 67 pages. They include two counts alleging that she used imperial weighing scales without an official stamp. The charges were brought by Hackney Council.

Great emphasis will be placed on the fact that her scales […]

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Leading the campaign is Fred Lambton, grandson of Lord Lambton, the former Tory cabinet minister who lived out his life in Tuscany after resigning from the Heath government over a call-girl scandal.
Others include models Rose Hanbury and Zita Lloyd; Joseph Getty, grandson of billionaire Sir Paul Getty; George Frost, son of Sir David Frost; […]

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The owner of a small German computer company has fired three non-smoking workers because they were threatening to disturb the peace after they requested a smoke-free environment.
The manager of the 10-person IT company in Buesum, named Thomas J., told the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper he had fired the trio because their non-smoking was causing disruptions.
Germany introduced […]

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Tee hee:

Portuguese smokers have been confined to the pavements since January 1, when new legislation banned smoking in many pubs and public places; so they were outraged to see a photograph of the man who had sponsored the legislation lighting up a cigar in a casino in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
António Nunes, […]

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